The California Republican Party works like "a bunch of warring factions and tribes settling old scores." That assessment comes not from Democratic legislators but from Steven Baric, the state party's vice chairman who now stands to be the next party chairman. (The current chairman, Tom Del Beccaro, is not running for re-election.)

There's nothing so bracing as losing big. In 2010, Democrats claimed every statewide elective office in the Golden State. Since then the state Republican Party has had only one toehold on power in Sacramento: the ability to block tax increases, which require two-thirds support in both the Assembly and Senate. Gov. Jerry Brown wanted to deal with the GOP caucus, and Republicans said they wanted to deal, too. Whatever happened behind the scenes, voters saw a GOP that knew only one trick: how to say no.

As a consequence, perhaps, November's elections handed the Democrats a two-thirds majority of both houses - if for the moment. (As state lawmakers run for seats newly vacated as Democrats won other races, the Democrats will lose their supermajority as the game of musical chairs plays out. When the last seat is taken, however, Democrats expect to control the governorship, and GOP-proof majorities in the Assembly and Senate.)

Also this year, Republican registration dipped below 30 percent, and party finances are a mess.

Desperate GOP operatives are pushing for former GOP Assembly and Senate leader Jim Brulte to run for party chairman. Brulte has a record of winning legislative races, sheltering Republican moderates, working across party lines and wooing dollars from big donors, who had stopped contributing to the state party.

Baric has said that he will step aside if Brulte wants the job. Brulte won't talk on the record, as he apparently has yet to decide that he definitely wants it. GOP delegates will choose their next leader at the state convention in March. With either Brulte or Baric, Republicans would gain a leader who doesn't want to be the head of a circular firing squad.

San Francisco's Harmeet Dhillon is running for vice chair of the state party. As a woman, an immigrant born in India, and a Sikh, Dhillon wants to show California voters that her party is "inclusive" and wants their participation. She also understands that the party has to improve what the political world calls the "ground game" - fundamentals such as voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts.

Democrats have an interest in seeing new blood in the old California Republican Party. One-party rule is not good for any government, as San Francisco City Hall repeatedly demonstrates. Please, Republicans, choose leaders that can make you stronger and more inclusive. Otherwise, the California Democratic Party could turn into a left-sided version of you.